


M.I.A. Captain

by sbuggbot



Category: SteamWorld Heist
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Kidnapping, Missing Captain, Post-Game, SPG only has a background appearance so I'm not tagging their fandom, SteamWorld Heist Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 13:09:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18499621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbuggbot/pseuds/sbuggbot
Summary: Piper goes missing during a night off, leaving her crew to figure out what happened and where to find her.Takes place post-Heist, Outsider DLC is canon.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look I finally wrote a Heist fic. ('Finally' because I fell in love with Heist before any other SteamWorld game, and that was almost two years ago.) Well, I'm in the process of writing one--I have most of an outline and a few chapters. Bear with me as I've never written (and completed) a longer story like this.

It wasn’t that bad of a bar, all things considered. Since it was on the border between the Core and the Outskirts, there was a mix of Cowbots and Royalists. In the past the presence of the diesel-powered bots in the bar would have been a hard pass on Piper’s part, but since a) she was no longer a criminal, and b) The Royal Space Force was no more, she would be alright visiting here. That's what she kept telling herself.

That, and her favorite band was playing here tonight, so that was a huge plus and the primary reason she was even visiting this particular bar. Steam Powered Giraffe was so popular that the band had even gotten to play at Royalist establishments. The fact that the steambot-hating Royalists let them perform there was still a mystery to Piper, but then again Steam Powered Giraffe had been around for a very long time and had a way of charming audiences.

She had had the luck to get to see them perform live during her first visit to the Colony in years and became an instant fan herself. (And not just because Piper considered the female lead to be very pretty and had a lovely voice. She enjoyed watching the entire band perform, Gabriel.) Any anxieties she had vanished like smoke into the air once they began to play.

The presence of both the band and fellow Cowbots left Piper much less on edge than she would have been normally around dieselbots. She hardly noticed someone move her drink (she had actually forgotten about it temporarily) until a ‘bot brushed her back in passing. Even then she didn’t think anything of it, just picked her drink back up and started drinking it again as she watched the performance. 

The band had finished part of their set when a dieselbot started hollering something Piper couldn’t quite make out from where she was sitting. It was as inflammatory as her prejudices said it was; a few Cowbots were already talking back. Just because the Royalists were no longer in power didn’t mean that relations went smoothly now.

It wasn’t long before it escalated into a full-blown bar fight despite the band’s attempts to get everyone to calm down. Charming as they were, they weren’t super-mediators. The Spine slouched and sighed in annoyance.

“I guess we shouldn’t play at this bar again,” Hatchworth said, no longer bothering to project his voice.

“Not until things have cooled down between Cowbots and dieselbots, at least.” The silver automaton shook his head. “We better cheese it before something gets broken.”

“Aww, why c-can’t we stick around for a little fun? I’m n-n-n-not that fragile,” Rabbit pouted.

“You might not be, but our equipment isn’t.” The Spine wasn’t too sure Rabbit could take that many hits anyway--they’d all been peaceful performers for literal ages now and she was known for glitching--but he was way less likely to convince her by telling her that. Rabbit sighed and began helping her brothers pack up their stuff as quickly as they could so they could get back to their ship.

Piper saw the band leave but didn't get much time to dwell on it because someone shoved her off her seat a moment later. She drew her rifle (although she didn't want to fire it in such close quarters) and rolled over to face her assailant. Dieselbot, as she figured. After a false start where she slipped, Piper got on her feet. She must be off her guard. It didn’t stop her from trying though--she wasn’t the sort to go down without a fight.

The dieselbot was quickly joined by a cohort and Piper found herself totally outmatched in her current state. The room was spinning. It shouldn't have been. She knew her tolerance; it was much higher.

Piper’s thoughts descended into a fuzzy haze as she continued to resist the two bots that were after her. A missed attack put her on the floor and she found herself unable to coordinate her limbs enough to get back up.

She blacked out as one of the dieselbots slung her over her shoulder, her hat falling off her head in the process.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew becomes concerned when Piper doesn't come back the next morning.

Currently, the crew of the _D_ _éjà Vu_  was faced with a problem.

That problem being the fact that their captain was not there.

Last evening had been an “off” night of sorts; Wonky had landed the ship on one of the larger asteroids in the area and everyone was permitted to just scatter and do their own thing. (Preferably without getting arrested.) With the night off also came a slow morning to give everyone a chance to get back on the ship and recover if needed.

Initially, there had been some jokes that Piper might have gotten her foot out of her mouth and gotten somewhere with Rabbit, but the humor in those dried up as the morning went on, along with Payroll’s “if the captain doesn’t show up within 15 minutes after we can leave” comments.

“So, if Piper doesn’t--”

Beatrix rubbed her temples. “Payroll, if you finish that sentence I’m going to hide mortars in all of your hats.” She’d been at the ship since the first thing that morning, so she was especially fed up with him at the moment.

“That is not why we carry those aboard,” Ivanski said. “You of all bots should know.”

“You sure?” Fen asked.

“Blurb.”

“I think we’ve reached the point where we can officially declare Captain Piper missing.”

“We probably passed that point hours ago, to be frank,” Wonky said. “I don’t think she’s ever been gone the whole night, especially without telling anyone.” Seabrass made a grunt in agreement; he’d known Piper the longest besides Wonky.

“What, we ain’t gonna check the bar? Just sit here an’ say she’s missin’?”

“Blub-lub.”

“Billy’s right, that's where we should check first,” Wonky said. “It is the last place we knew she was.”

There was a moment of confusion. Who should go? Normally Piper was the one who would go out to represent her ship. Next in command was Wonky, who couldn’t go for obvious reasons despite the ship still being parked.

Also, no bot really wanted to go into the place that their captain disappeared from, especially since the place was still frequented by dieselbots. “I ain't puttin’ my peg anywhere near where any Royalist likes hangin’ out,” as Seabrass put it.

Ultimately Dora volunteered to go since she worked so much with the Royalists in the past, with Billy and Valentine hanging a bit behind in case something went awry.

* * *

 The bar looked like a tornado had gone through. The tender hardly noticed her come in; he was busy trying to sweep up some of the mess.

“Excuse me--”

“Oh, hello there! We're not open yet.” He gestured to some of the debris. “Still trying to clean up after last night. Can I help you?”

“Yes, a colleague of mine was here last night and she hasn't been seen since.”

“I'm afraid I won't be of much help. Last night was especially busy with the live performance, even if it did get cut short by a bar fight. Too much to keep track of.”

“There was a fight last night?”

“Yes, and a big one at that.” The barkeep leaned his broom against the table so he could right a chair. “If only you could run a bar ‘round here without steam- and dieselbots fightin’ in it.”

“This is a typical occurrence?” There weren't a lot of bars in this stretch between Core and Outskirts; Dora was beginning to see why.

“Not on this scale, no. There's the occasional scuffle but I can usually just throw out the troublemakers and that's the end of it. Somehow things devolved into bedlam in the blink of an eye last night…”

“She couldn't have just vanished,” Dora said, mostly to herself.

“I did find this hat while I was cleaning up the mess, though.” He disappeared under the counter and re-emerged with a khaki green captain's hat.

“That's her hat, without a doubt,” Dora said as she picked it up. “Are you sure you didn't see anything?” Piper wasn't the sort to leave her hat lying around, especially not this one.

“Now that I'm looking at the hat again, I vaguely remember the bot that was wearing it but she disappeared during the bar fight.”

Dora thanked the barkeep for his help anyway and left for the ship.

* * *

“Good news, everyone! I found out more about Piper’s whereabouts.” She put the hat on the table. “She’s definitely missing.”

“I think we have different definitions of good news,” Fen said.

“Unfortunately, that's all I could find out about where she was. Some dieselbots started a huge bar-wide brawl and she disappeared some point during it.”

“Great, Ah thought we were done dealin’ with them grease-powered chickens.”

“So now what do we do? We've got a missing in action captain and not much of a lead.”

Sally jumped to her feet, waving her gun about. “We go find her!”

“Well, obviously, Sally, but we won't get very far if we board ships willy-nilly without much heading.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a posting schedule really; I do have several chapters written out but my muse is unpredictable and SteamWorld Quest is coming out on Thursday so I'll probably get sucked into that. :P


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did play Quest when it released last week, and I LOVED it. The gameplay was fun and the story was good (although it ripped my heart out at least twice....)
> 
> Anyway, time for some more Heist fic!

Piper was barraged with senses from the moment she came to, before she even opened her eyes. She didn't have her gun. She didn't have her hat. Her head felt like someone had taken an axe to it. She smelled diesel, which did nothing for the sick feeling she had. 

She forced herself to open her eyes and found herself in a cell, one in a Royalist ship by the looks of it. Great. Not how she had planned to spend her Saturday. She let her arm fall back over her eyes with a small groan.

More importantly, how did she wind up here? Last night was a fuzzed haze to her. Piper considered herself to have enough sense to not have more than two or three drinks at most when she was out; she preferred to keep her wits about herself. Judging by how she felt, she suspected someone put something in the drink she had. Probably an accelerant, you could miss the taste if you weren't looking for it. 

Piper sighed. She realized now that she should have been more careful in that bar, but these sorts of things just never happened. Even in seedier cantinas bots didn't really mess with each other's drinks. 

She got up despite her body's protests. Piper needed to get a better idea of where she was. It wasn't a maximum security cell; it had a barred cell door as opposed to a solid one. It also wasn't towards the outside of the ship since there weren't any windows. That also meant that Piper wasn't sure where she was; she could be anywhere from near the Core to all the way out in Deep Space. There was also no running water. Typical.

“Huh, didn't expect you to wake up yet.” Piper spun around and saw a dieselbot sitting at a work desk nearby. “Guess I owe the other guard 5 Gallons. Still can't believe we captured you in the first place.”

“Is there a reason I'm being held hostage?” Piper asked.

“There's a good price on your head in some circles, even after you took out the Royal Space Force.” The guard stood up and strode over towards Piper's cell, striking a pose. “Not all of us folded like damp sponges without a queen, and we are a force to be reckoned with!”

Piper wasn't intimidated by this; she would have even rolled her eyes at him had she not been positive the action would have made her toss a few gallons in her current state. “You do realize that my crew and I not only took down the Royal Space Force on our own, but also the Scrapper gang and all of Vectron, right?”

“That may be true, but our forces are scattered. Quality over quantity, if you will. You guys couldn't swing a dead steam-cat around without hitting a ship full of troops, subpar ones at that.”

This failed to cause much concern for Piper; once again, she had dealt with worse than some uppity Royalists. She displayed her lack of interest by continuing to investigate her cell as the guard prattled on about how great this new force was.

“...and besides, what's a crew without their captain?”

She refused to show it and give the guard such gratification, but he had a point. Piper was a strong leader and held the crew together. She knew what craziness they'd get up to at times, and that was when she was there. Would her crew be able to unite as one for her sake, without her guidance?

Still keeping up her disinterested veneer, Piper reached through the bars and began messing with the lock with one of her claws. She'd picked open locks in the past this way...

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.”

She shot the guard a look...and yelped as a painful jolt shot up her arm. She ripped her hand out of the lock and held it.

“Electrified locks, that's something we learned from Vectron before you came through and wreaked havoc. Good thing we upgraded them in here before you stumbled across our path.” Piper glared at the guard, still clutching her twitching hand. “Better get used to that cell, you're going to be there for a while.”

“Oh, really?” Piper asked. “No taking me out and using ‘persuasive tactics’ on me?” She was plenty familiar with the euphemisms the Royalists used despite being a mere cargo shipper before deserting.

“Nah, you're worth more in one piece.” It looked like the guard was getting bored; he was going back to his desk. Before returning to his book, he flashed a stun gun at her. “You better stay put, now.”

Piper sighed, steam curling from the vents on her cheeks. She didn't have much of a choice; without her gun, she felt practically defenseless. Her fists would only get her so far. Mulling over her options, she remembered the pocket on her shorts. She usually had at least something of use in there. She peeked inside and frowned. Completely empty--must have been emptied while she was out.

She'd have to think of something. But maybe later--her head was killing her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we're back with Piper's crew, trying to figure out where she might have gone...  
> You may see a couple familiar faces in this chapter from another SteamWorld game. :)

Lola's seemed to be as good of a start as anywhere, Taps always seemed to know what was going on. Now that she had her bar back from the Royalists, things were as they should have been for her. So it wasn't a total surprise that more of the crew willingly went in this time.

When the crew entered, the bar was fairly quiet, but Taps was busy talking to a pair of steambots. They were something of an odd-looking pair, one bronze with bright blue eyes, a red scarf, and a cowboy hat, and the other with a big pair of goggles and bright red pigtails that bounced as she moved her head. Both were fairly short as well.

“...and it's so bizarre. Usually, the Royalists have ignored us in the past.” The bronze bot nodded in agreement with his friend.

All three of them looked down at the gaggle entering in. “Isn't that Captain Faraday's crew?” Taps asked herself before addressing them. “Hello! I must say, it's a bit strange to see you guys but no Piper.”

“About that…” Valentine said as he scaled the ladder. Once he and a couple of other crew members were there, they recounted what had happened with Piper--her disappearing, the fight at the border bar, how scrap-happy the dieselbots there had been.

“That's certainly a coincidence, two of my regulars here were telling me about how much trouble  _ they'd _ been having with dieselbots.”

The pigtailed bot said, “Hey,” and her friend made a small wave.

“Aren't you two a little young to be drinkin’?”

The red-scarfed bot let the natural tenor of his voice answer that for him. “Hey, it ain't my fault y’ aged worse'n’ me.”

Seabrass sputtered and found himself too angry to say anything other than “Gyarrrh!”

Billy held him back from actually attacking the miner. “Blub-lub.”

“Me name ain't Ahab!”

“Um...weren't you guys having trouble with dieselbots too?” The pigtailed miner asked.

“Yeah. Don't mind Seabrass, he's just perpetually angry. You were saying?”

“Ever since a little while after the Queen got scrapped, my friend and I have been running into these little clusters of dieselbots while we're out exploring.”

“Not like they were too strong for us,” the bronze bot added, “But still annoying.”

“We'd ask them what their deal was, but they always said the same thing.” She imitated the accent the Royal Space Force members had. “We're just following orders from higher up, we don't know anything about others, blah blah blah.” She went back to her normal Cowbot voice. “They aren't getting their orders from the Queen or associate with the R.S.F.. We know that much.”

“So it's some sort of cellular organization?” Beatrix asked. “That's new.”

“Also much harder to compromise. We'll have to find whoever's in charge,” Payroll said.

“Since these guys aren't part of the Royal Space Force, we should call them something different. Like...post-Royalists?”

“I don't have any better ideas.”

 

Back on the ship, Sally asked, “Don’t ya think it’s strange that two lil’ bots managed t’ overpower a whole squad on their own?”

“Looks are only small part of strength,” Ivanski said.

Beatrix spoke up. “There’s a rumor in the Colony I just remembered. They say that those two have been around for a long time--that they were friends with the Lola that bar’s named after.”

“Do ye really believe that?”

“A few months ago, I would’ve said not at all, but nowadays I wonder… Especially with Fen around and all that.” She looked around. “Where is Fen, anyway?”

There was an odd noise and the ship’s coal pile moved. Fen popped their head out, causing a small coal avalanche. “Huh? Someone say my name?” They had been sleeping in the coal pile. Again.

“Piper gave you a bed for a reason, you know,” Wonky said. “Also, you're going to get her hat dirty if you insist on wearing it for safekeeping while you do things like that.”

Fen climbed out of the coal pile and shook themself off, getting soot all over a now-irritated Sally. Valentine, in something of an impish mood, tried to “help” using his old chimney sweeper--the very one he could smack on the ground and create a cloud of soot large enough for him to hide in during shootouts. Sally didn't appreciate his efforts.

“Alright, that's enough,” Wonky said before things could get more out of hand. “We need to try to find these headquarters.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fen was literally taking a nap during this because I didn't want to feed the plot bunnies that would spawn from Fen reuniting with the Dig Duo and I couldn't bear leaving them out of the fic once the idea was in my head. You can get your memories back some other time, Fen, we got other problems right now.


	5. Chapter 5

Once she had slept off whatever mess had been in her system, Piper began to really investigate the confines of her cell. She was rarely still. Despite the faith she had in her crew she couldn't sit idly and wait for rescue. She'd poke at the walls, looking for possible weak points. She'd fiddle with the hinges on her cell door (and the door itself; the only electrified part was the lock). 

Engineering her own escape proved to be difficult, however. Even if she did break out of her cell, she would have to take down the on-duty guard with her bare hands--assuming they didn't stun her the moment she was loose. Then she would still have to make her way out without a proper gun. The cards were stacked against her, but it didn't stop her from running the hypotheticals in her head. She needed _something_ to do.

There was also the fact that with the way things were going, she probably wouldn't be in fighting condition for much longer. She could only go so long without water before her built-in safeguards would force her body into hibernation. (It was a safety measure built into every steambot, to prevent boiler explosions.) Sure, the guards left her water, but Piper didn't dare touch a drop of it after what had happened to her last drink. The fact that the bottles were unsealed did nothing to reassure her. Given the choice between possibly getting drugged again and running herself dry, she decided she would rather remain cognizant of her surroundings.

Especially when the post-Royalists talked about plans in front of her as if she wasn't there. The latest thing she had heard was a plan to trap the rest of her crew, using her as bait. Meet up with the crew someplace off-base, but instead of just handing over the captain after being given enough Gallons, they'd overpower the crew and capture them as well. As if Piper's crew was going to wait around and follow a ransom note. Or they hadn't dealt with ambushes from stronger forces in the past. Piper didn't say as much to her captors, though--why should she help them?

Piper looked up at the corner, where the ceiling met the walls. She had missed it the first time she looked, but there was some little bump up in the corner.

It was a beacon, she realized. Back when she was still doing cargo shipments (legally), some bots were lobbying for them to be put in jail cells.  There had been some bureaucratic reason behind it, but Piper hadn't cared enough to find out exactly why. The plan got abandoned not long before she deserted.

She wasn't going to complain now, that was for dang sure. She was still trying to believe that these goons were dumb enough to leave it in the cell before they stuck her in there. They might not have even known it was there--the cell beacon project got swept under the rug pretty quickly once it went belly-up. She'd probably get someone's attention on the outside if she could turn it on...

Piper managed to reach it by climbing on the cell door. The guard didn't have much of a reaction since she'd been hanging off it earlier while testing its strength. It shouldn't take much tinkering to turn on; these things were designed to be idiot-friendly (as they needed to be with Royalists, she thought to herself).

Deciding that Piper was being too rowdy, the guard rapped on the cell door and then immediately stood back so she was out of Piper's reach. “Hey, get down from there! It's a jail cell, not a jungle gym!”

Piper hopped down, having gotten the beacon on and transmitting its location. The thing was silent, thankfully. “Well, it isn't like you've given me much else to do.”

“Not worth you getting damaged or running off.”

“Dang.” Internally, Piper couldn't be too disappointed, though. The beacon gave her hope.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like the beacon really got people's attention last chapter...and I don't mean in-universe. :p I don't mind at all though. Feel free to yell at me about my fics--any of them--on my Tumblr. (sbuggbot.tumblr.com)

Wonky. Wonky. Wonky. _Wonky._ ” Fen bounced in place restlessly before climbing on the back of Wonky's assembly like a small monkey-bot. “Wonky!!”

The pilot wasn't perturbed by Fen's jitteriness, however. “What is it, Fen? New memory or something?”

“No, I feel--I feel something different. Some new signal I haven't felt before.” It was totally unfamiliar and the fact that Fen didn't know anything about it was driving them batty. They reached over Wonky's shoulder and toward the navigational instruments. “I _gotta_ figure out where it’s coming from…”

Wonky smacked Fen's hand away on reflex. “Don't mess with those!” he snapped. Fen shrunk back like a kicked puppy. Seeing the way Fen reacted, he explained, more gently, “If you aren't careful you could mess up the ship's course. I don't intend to fly 'er into anything anytime soon.”

“I'm sorry,” Fen mumbled, still trying to shrink into themself.

“It's alright.” Wonky could tell that Fen hadn't meant any harm. “That being said...I could use them to help you find that signal. But I'm going to be the one touching the instruments.”

Fen perked up. “Really?”

“Yes. Remember though, you need to keep your clamps off.”

Fairly quickly Wonky and Fen ruled out any potential activity from Vectron, and they were reasonably sure that the signal wasn't from any Cowbot. It wasn't long before the rest of the crew was watching, curious about the commotion. Everyone piled onto the bridge the best they could, but it was a tight fit. The bridge wasn't designed to have more than three bots loitering on it at most.

Wonky hovered over one of the older dials on the panel. “This one seems unlikely, but I'll give it a shot.”

He had barely begun turning up the dial when Fen cried, “That's it! That's the one!”

“A cell beacon near the Core…” Dora said. “I thought they were all decommissioned.”

“I thought so, too. But there's no denying it,” Wonky said. “No voltbot ever used that frequency and it's specifically reserved for the space force. Any Cowbot who would try to use it would be hit with a fine.”

“Where's it coming from? Can you tell?”

“I'd have to fly the ship closer to see,” Wonky said, “but you lot need to get off the bridge first. I need more room to pilot the ship correctly--hey, watch your step, you almost kicked Earnest!”

“Whoops, my bad.” Fortunately, the plant was unharmed.

Following the signal took the crew near the Core, a lot farther in than anyone would have expected. Although it wasn't explicitly restricted Royalist space, no Cowbot ever had business here, and as a result, no Cowbot ever went there. “What kinda nut job would hang ‘round here?” Sally asked.

“Someone who's a fanatic of the Queen, more'n’ likely.”

“That's an old Royalist compound,” Wonky said. “It hasn't been used for a long time.”

“How long?”

“It was abandoned long before Piper and I became smugglers. Weird for something to be going on there now.”

"Suspiciously weird?" Fen asked from their perch. Wonky nodded.

“Ye know what that means,” Seabrass said, brandishing his hook.

“Whoopee! Time for another adventure!”

“It's such a big structure, we definitely need a plan of attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, seems like we're approaching a rescue! 
> 
> (Not only is my chapter buffer running out, but we're rapidly approaching territory that wasn't described in this fic's outline. >.< I'm going to invent a time machine and kick past Bugg, this was her idea.)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't pretend that this chapter isn't shorter, but I really wanted to have a Piper interlude before getting into the rescue. I've had a pattern going, I wanna stick with it, darnit!  
> (Then again, other chapters have been fairly dialogue-heavy so this one might not even be that much shorter. I'm not a very wordy writer, I've found...)

Piper's condition was beginning to decline and she knew it.

She was a steam-powered robot, she needed water to function and she hadn't put any in her since before she had been kidnapped. Piper looked over at the bottles the guards had left her. She still had no intentions to drink any of it; she was  **not** getting drugged again if she could help it. She toyed with the idea of dumping them out on the floor, partly out of boredom, and partly just to be difficult. 

She decided against it, if only because she wanted to begin rationing her strength. She needed to hold out for as long as she could, to will her body to keep functioning as long as it would permit her. Once her tank ran dry, safeguards would kick in and she'd more than likely slip into a coma until her tank was refilled. Not directly fatal, but in a situation like this it was extremely dangerous.

Her body was already making its concerns known to her. At one point, Piper was messing with the hinges on her door again when her limbs suddenly lost pressure and her legs gave out. She would have crumpled to the ground had she not been holding onto the bars. Fortunately, she managed to recover and get back up before the guard could raise an eyebrow. She stopped tampering with her cell much after that and traded it for time resting on her cot. If there were any exploitable flaws in her prison, she would have found them by now anyway.

Nevertheless, the incident was the first sign Piper was reaching a point of no return. It wouldn't be long before Piper was forced into a totally passive role, too weak to do anything or--cog forbid--totally unconscious. 

If she was going to be honest with herself, the prospect terrified her. To be that helpless...it was right up there with her fear of her whole crew getting killed. Scrap, where was her crew right now? Were they okay? Had they been ambushed amongst the confusion when Piper hadn't returned to the ship? What if the beacon she activated was noticed by the wrong people? She had confidence in her crew, but now that she was staring the chance of helplessness in the face her other anxieties were rising closer to the surface.

Steam hissed from her vents, and Piper realized she needed to stop herself before she spiraled into despair. Her fears were valid and justified given the situation, but she couldn't afford to dwell on them. It would only make things worse for her in the long run. 

She missed her crew...

...all she could really do now is hope. Hope that rescue could come soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so my fandom friend Sei has been writing the opposite situation to this fic, and she finally got to post the first chapter! You can read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18739357/chapters/44450446  
> (Be warned, when she wants to hurt her characters, she doesn't mess around...)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'know what, I'm kinda bored and I feel like posting an extra chapter this week to move things along, so here y'all go I guess.

Everybody that wasn't built into the ship went to go infiltrate the compound. It was a big place. Payroll and Dora went to go scout with the vanguards covering.

As they passed another dock, the door opened. Expecting diesel-powered reinforcements, Dora trained her rifle on the door. They were reinforcements, alright. But not for the post-Royalists, she quickly realized--these were musical Cowbots!

“Wait, what are you guys doing here?” Dora asked, lowering her gun. 

“Our ship picked up an odd signal, and Rabbit  _ insisted _ that we go investigate,” The Spine said with a hint of weariness. Rabbit beamed.

“We saw your ship docking and figured you guys could use the support. Normally we stay out of this stuff, but after our last show…” Hatchworth didn't bother to fill in the blanks; everybody knew already.

“So pardon us if we seem a bit out of practice with fighting.”

Dora shrugged a shoulder. “The more, the merrier, I suppose. Don't think we've ever had this many crewmembers loose at once, maybe some extra hands not doing any shooting isn't so bad.”

Hatchworth seemed perfectly content not having to do any fighting. The Spine would fight if push came to shove and Rabbit was always ready to throw hands (sometimes literally), but Hatchworth preferred to totally stay out of it if he could.

Having finished her scouting, Dora led the Walter bots back to the rest of the team so everyone could properly split off. They would be able to cover the base faster and hopefully get more accomplished before the post-Royalists figured out what was happening. The groups weren't set in stone, though--sometimes a cowbot would switch groups or simply stand guard to pick off any post-Royalists that showed up.

It looked a bit chaotic, but it was an orderly chaos that made sense if you were in on what was happening. Being able to hear the crew's personal (and scrambled) local radio wavelength helped, too. While the rest of the expanded crew went after baddies (and their leader, eventually), Fen, Billy, and Rabbit went towards the cell block to find Piper, with Valentine lagging a bit behind to cover for them. 

Time to rescue them a captain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourselves, next chapter's a big'un.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got long, but it's the one you've all been waiting for!

Things in the cell block were a mess.

The guards were attempting preparations to move Piper to a different branch, but their flimsily-made plans were thrown way off by recent events. From what she could gather, a boarding party (or maybe two, they weren't sure) had arrived at the base. In addition, the branch she was supposed to be transferred to for safekeeping had just been single-handedly attacked and overtaken by different pair of cowbots.

* * *

The door opened on its own. A blue steambot darted in and headbutted a guard. He turned to her, struck a pose, and went, “Blub-blub!” like a goofy fanfare.

“Billy!” Piper exclaimed as she sat up, laughing out of pure relief at finally seeing a friendly face again.

Billy beamed right back at her and darted back out of the room towards cover, and a moment later a pink beam ripped through the room, taking out the remaining guards in one go.

“Fen!” Both bots entered the room now that it was cleared of foes. “Am I glad to see you guys!”

“Are you okay, Piper?” Fen asked. Piper noticed that they had her hat but passed no comment. “They didn't hurt you, did they?”

Piper shook her head (and fought back a grimace when the action made it ache; she didn't want to upset Fen.) “I'm okay. I've been better but I'm--” she stopped short in surprise when Rabbit walked in. “Am I seeing things or is Rabbit there?”

Billy put a hand on Rabbit’s shoulder to prove that she was real. “Blurb.”

“H-h-hey, Captain.”

Piper found herself totally speechless. (Better that than putting her foot in her mouth in front of Rabbit again, she supposed.)

Fen, not picking up on exactly why Piper was so gobsmacked, said, “Rabbit and her brothers are helping us! They found the base too.”

Billy nodded and moved to begin trying to open the cell.

Piper snapped out of her daze. “The lock's electrified,” Piper said, “I couldn't pick it without zapping myself.”

Fen perked up. “Electrified, huh?” They pulled out one of their Voltbot-based tools and began prodding the lock.

“Fen, what're you--please don't hurt yourself,” Piper said.

“I know what I'm doing!” they replied with confidence. “Stand back.” There was a zapping and a bright spark, then the lock was no more. “Ta-da!” They said, pulling the door open.

The moment Piper stepped out of the cell, she was swept up into a big hug courtesy of Fen, one that lifted her off the floor. “I missed you, I was worried!!”  Billy was quick to join in on the hug, blubbing happily. Piper would have been lying if she said she didn’t love it.

Eventually Piper was released from the hug and put back on the ground. (Only after several reminders that they were on a mission, however.) She glanced over at Rabbit, who had been standing off to the side during the hug. The musician flashed a smile a thumbs up.

Piper’s legs promptly gave out.

Billy caught her before she could smack her head on anything and eased her down when Piper didn’t regain her footing. Already she was trying to reassure the others. “I’m fine, just give me a moment…”

“Blub blub.” Billy told her firmly.

“I’m n-not sure what he just said,” Rabbit admitted, “but clearly you’re not ‘fine’.”

“Piper, what’s wrong?” Fen was giving her puppy-dog eyes, which was probably overkill in this situation, but sometimes Piper was stubborn about not telling her crew when she was hurt.

“I’m not hurt, I just need water---oh, don’t give me that look, Fen…”

“N-n-no fightin' for y-you, come here,” Rabbit said. She picked Piper up off the ground and carried her bridal-style.

Piper yelped in surprise--she hadn’t expected Rabbit to be strong enough to pick her up so easily and _oh my gosh this is happening right now_. She could feel her face burning. “This-this isn’t necessary, ma’am!” she stammered out.

“It’s entirely necessary, you can’t walk,” Fen said. “And between the three of us that can, Billy and I are the better fighters.” A beat. “That sounded way less rude in my head. Sorry, Rabbit.”

Rabbit shrugged. “I’m not m-m-mad, Fen, I’m out-outta practice anyway.”

“Alright, when you put it that way…” Piper said in resignation.

“Besides, you’re not th-that heavy.” Rabbit proved her point by tossing her in the air a bit.

“ **AUUGH!** Please don’t do that.”

Rabbit only giggled in response.

Billy plucked Piper's hat off of Fen's head and held it out to her. “Blubity?”

“Of course I do,” she said, putting it on with pride. “And thank you, Fen, for taking good care of it.”

Fen beamed. “You're welcome! Oh, right!” They fished something out of their snood. “Here, I remembered an extra radio transceiver for you!”

Piper put it over her auditor and listened as the party headed towards the rest of the crew. Seabrass and Dora were arguing about whales for some reason despite the fact that they were in the middle of a mission and despite Beatrix's pleas for them to focus. Valentine making fish puns did not help the matter. Piper got her chance to speak during a lull in the discussion.

“Hey, guys.”

Immediately Piper was almost deafened in that auditor by a chorus of “PIPER!!” and subsequent questions about her well-being. All asked at once by everybody not in her immediate vicinity, and in such a manner that she couldn’t even answer them cohesively.

Eventually the cacophony quieted to a dull roar and Piper explained that no, she was not hurt, but she wasn’t in fighting shape, yes, she’d be fine. She was relieved to find that nobody was hurt (aside from Seabrass's pride, but he'd recover). 

"Good to hear your voice again, ma'am," Wonky said.

"Same here." Piper did not have the words to describe the level of elation she felt. It almost made her feel loopy.

"Unfortunately, I can't get any escape pods up and running yet. You might have to wait and evacuate with the rest of the crew."

"That's perfectly fine. I've waited this long, I can wait a little bit longer." She was _safe._ Her crew had this, she'd be back on her ship soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might be an epilogue, might not be, I dunno. I don't have anything else written and my muse is a bit exhausted for this fic.


End file.
